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Jacobo Arenas ("nom de guerre" of Luis Morantes, 1917/1918 – August 10, 1990) was a Colombian guerrilla and ideological leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC). He was also one of the FARC figures involved in the organization and creation of the Patriotic Union political party in 1985. He was fluent in several languages^{[citation needed]} other than his native Spanish, including English and Russian.

Jacobo Arenas spent most of his life involving himself in the activities of Marxist revolution in Colombia since the 1960s. During this time, he mostly lived in the mountains, jungles and remote villages. Arenas sometimes had to hide from those who wanted to capture him, including Colombian security forces, the CIA (which Arenas believed responsible for numerous alleged plots against him)^{[citation needed]} and eventually paramilitary fighters as well. Arenas is thought to have followed the example of Che Guevara, who changed his way of life when he saw that the people of Latin America were facing hardships during a regionwide motorcycle trip (partially included in the film Diarios de Motocicleta - The Motorcycle Diaries) when he was a senior year medical student. Jacobo Arenas admired Che Guevara and started his life as a revolutionary due to similar realizations, first through his experiences in the Colombian Communist Party (PCC) and finally in the FARC.^{[citation needed]}

Arenas is credited for helping to lay the foundation for the FARC's organizational structure and promoting its later development into what is usually considered as one of the strongest and longest lasting Marxist guerrilla movements in the world. To implement the policy of "standing steadily", he taught them in several areas, such as anthropology, international military law and counter techniques for any changing situation.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Death and aftermath

[edit] Importance to FARC

Jacobo Arenas died on August 10, 1990, possibly due to cancer, but perhaps also due to diabetes or an ulcer, or even assassinated by a vindictive comrade (according to different versions).^[1] His death was considered a major blow to the FARC, as he was one of the persons responsible for transforming the FARC from a small guerilla force to a belligerent rebel army.^{[citation needed]}

Arenas' son, apparently known as "Francisco Arenas", would have continued to be a member of the FARC after his father's death.

Alfonso Cano subsequently became Arenas' replacement as ideological leader of the group throughout the 1990s, and has become the new leader of the FARC-EP as of May 2008.

[edit] FARC's Jacobo Arenas Front

His son Francisco Arenas eventually would have led the "Jacobo Arenas Front" mobile column, named in honor of his father, and according to an Europa Press report, he would allegedly have died in combat with the Colombian Army in August 2004 [1].

Since February 2005, the "Jacobo Arenas Front" has played a significant role in the renewed series of FARC military operations in the southwest of the country against the security forces of president Álvaro Uribe's government, coming after a period of what was considered as either a temporary halt in operations or as a necessary strategic retreat on the part of the guerrillas, in part as a response to a massive U.S. government-backed military offensive known as "Plan Patriota" taking place in the southeast of Colombia, according to different analysts.

This guerrilla unit has participated in different military activities, such as a recent attack on the municipality of Toribio in the Cauca department on 14 April 2005, where four people were killed and 23 injured, together with the displacement of many of the villagers as the fighting in the general area continued intermittently for about a month.

[edit] Impression on other revolutionaries

Jacobo Arenas was seen as a hero among other Latin American Communist revolutionaries both inside and outside Colombia. For example, the ELN commander Antonio García once stated Jacobo Arenas was a hero to him, just as he considered Simón Bolívar, José Martí and Che Guevara as heroes, in an interview with a Latin American journalist.

[edit] References

This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

• Diario de la resistencia de Marquetalia, Jacobo Arenas, Ediciones Abejón Mono, 1972
• Dance of the Millions: Military Rule and the Social Revolution in Colombia : 1930-1956, Vernon L. Fluharty, ISBN 0-8371-8368-5, 1975
• Blood and Fire: La Violencia in Antioquia, Colombia, 1946-1953, Mary Roldan, Duke University Press, ISBN 0-8223-2918-2, 2002
• Human Rights Watch, “The Sixth Division: Military-Paramilitary ties and US Policy in Colombia”, September 2001. [2]
• Martin Hodgson, CSM, April 26, 2000 (UN Report)

[edit] External links

• FARC-EP Official website
• Colombia Journal Home
• Center for International Policy - Colombia Program